On his bonding with brother Hardik, who hit some lofty shots and was on the verge of taking the game away from RCB with his 15-ball knock, Krunal said the two cherish the affection they have for each other
Royal Challengers Bengaluru all-rounder Krunal Pandya acknowledged that he had to dig deep into his decade-long experience of playing the game to help his side beat Mumbai Indians by 12 runs in an edge-of-the-seat thriller in Mumbai on Monday. (Highlights | Scorecard)
Just when it seemed Mumbai Indians would chase down a steep target of 222 with Hardik Pandya (42) and Tilak Varma (56) batting with ferocity, Krunal kept his composure and grabbed three three wickets in the last over to take the wind out of the home team's sails, managing to tie them down to 209 for nine.
"The amount of games I have played in the last 10 years, whatever experience I had, it had to come in right. Sometimes, you want to commit but you know it is important to commit 100 per cent," said Krunal, who returned excellent figures of 4 for 45, after the match.
"So the execution becomes much on your side. I was clear in a way where I wanted to commit fully to whatever ball I wanted to bowl," Krunal added as RCB clinched their first victory at the Wankhede Stadium in 10 years.
On his bonding with brother Hardik, who hit some lofty shots and was on the verge of taking the game away from RCB with his 15-ball knock, Krunal said the two cherish the affection they have for each other.
"The bond that we have, at the end of the day, we knew only one (Pandya) would win. But the love and affection we have for each other is very natural. He (Hardik) batted well. We won, and I also wanted to win, he also wanted to win. I feel for him," said Krunal.
Krunal added that RCB skipper Rajat Patidar always back his players, one of the reasons they have started so strongly in IPL 2025.
RCB are currently third with six points from four games while MI have just two from five matches.
"Rajat has been terrific the way he has started. A captain who gives you that comfort, he gives you the ball and backs your game-plan. Sometimes as a bowler, you want that.
"He has a calm demeanour, does not make things complicated. Been good playing under him. Jitesh (Sharma, 40 not out) has been terrific, he has improved his game. The game awareness while batting has been top-notch, and with the gloves, he has been terrific always."
On whether RCB can break the IPL jinx this time around, Krunal said, "I don't want to jinx it or say it, but we all know what you want at the end of the season. Just want to keep my head down and keep winning."
MI skipper Hardik said there was not much his bowlers could do to stop the flow of runs on this surface.
"It was a run-fest. The wicket was really good. I was just talking about that to myself. We fell short with two hits, don't know what to say. The way the wicket was, the bowlers did not really have much space to hide.
"It came down to execution. You can stop the batters, but I don't want to be harsh on the bowlers. It was a tough track, not much options. 5-10, maybe 12 runs I can say (we conceded more)," he said.
He was, however, happy that Jasprit Bumrah was back in the side after recovering from an injury.
"Having him (Bumrah) makes this team, any team in the world really special. He came and did his job, very happy to have him. In life, never back down, always see the positive side of it.
"The message will be very clear: go out there and try to play the best cricket of your life. We are all backing them and hope for the result to come our way," he added.